2017

During this reporting period, EISA Mozambique contributed to the improved organisational capacity of the MDM's Women's League (WL), and their members' ability to participate in their party's activities and processes, through a two-day training of 100 WL senior members from all over the country. During the training, which took place in Beira city in July, the following topics were covered: (i) internal organisational strengthening, (ii) leadership and communication skills; (iii) outreach strategies to increase grassroots membership; and (iv) the role and engagement of the WL in party activity.

In the same period, EISA also contributed to the strengthening and revitalisation of party national and local structures within Frelimo, Renamo and MDM. Specifically, EISA supported (i) the training of 216 MDM national and provincial cadres, in Beira in September, in preparation for the party's national congress, scheduled for December 2017; (ii) the election of Renamo's new provincial party structures in all 11 provinces through provincial party conferences, which took place in all provincial capitals in September, with the participation of a total of 1,710 delegates from every district in the country; and (iii) the 2-day induction training of the new 189 members of the Frelimo Central Committee, elected at the party's September national Congress, in Nampula city in October.

2015-2016

During the 2015 period, EISA Mozambique Office held meetings with the three political parties represented in Parliament to determine the types of assistance their representatives will require. Both FRELIMO and RENAMO submitted proposals for training and assistance. The training for FRELIMO elected public officials at provincial and municipal level took place in all provincial capitals between 25 and 30 May. RENAMO was yet to be trained, while MDN was still to submit their proposal.

EISA supported the training of the new 120 Central Committee members of FRELIMO's Youth League, Mozambican Youth Organization (OJM), elected in their November 2015 Congress.

The training took place from 30 November to 2 December, and 40% of participants were women. EISA also supported a training event for the RENAMO parliamentary bench in December, where 65 RENAMO MPs (73% of the bench) were trained by RENAMO communication experts on internal party communication, political communication and voter outreach. About 25% of participants were women.

2014

In 2014, EISA provided support for the training of party agents for the monitoring of the voter registration process that took place from 15 February to 29 April 2014, and for election day.

EISA supported FRELIMO by training 16 national and 160 provincial trainers in all 11 provinces, for the voter registration process and 496 trainers and 32,000 party agents for election day monitoring.

For MDM, EISA trained 290 party agents in the central region of Mozambique who were deployed to monitor the last phase of the voter registration process as well as 6,000 party agents and polling officials for Election day Monitoring.

RENAMO, was not included in EISA activities given its boycott of the electoral process and involvement in armed conflict with the government. However, following the cessation-of-hostilities agreement, EISA was able to start its activities with RENAMO in September 2014 beginning with training 14,000 party agents and polling officials for Election Day.

Due to organizational constraints - delays in identifying and recruiting party agents - the opposition parties were less effective in replicating the training at the lower levels. However, all three parties managed to exceed the replication target of 3,200 party agents per party by a significant margin due to cost-contention measures applied by the parties themselves in the replication phases of the training. On Election Day, FRELIMO deployed 37,000 party agents, RENAMO 26,000 and the MDM 25,000 agents, meaning that EISA's support provided for the training of 84% of FRELIMO's deployed party agents, 54% of RENAMO's and 24% of the MDM's.

At the time, EISA, was the only external partner training party agents. It can be noted that, its intervention improved the quality of party agents, and the role they played at many polling stations which were faced with attempts of electoral malpractice. This role was widely recognised by both national and international observers and the media, compared to previous electoral processes.

2013

EISA continued to provide support to the three Mozambican political parties with seats in parliament, namely FRELIMO, RENAMO and MDM. In 2013, EISA's support to political parties, was provided primarily through funding for training and technical assistance. The training focused primarily on providing the parties with capacity to monitor the electoral process.

FRELIMO equipped with election monitoring capacity

Eleven central-level trainers and 60 province-level trainers for party election monitoring were trained in Maputo and in each province in September. These trainers were in charge of training all FRELIMO election monitors for the 53 municipal elections scheduled for 20 November 2013. With EISA's support, FRELIMO was able to have trained trainers in every municipality who in turn delivered training to their peers locally.

MDM equipped with election monitoring skills

EISA supported the training of 1,000 MDM party agents in 12 municipalities. This allowed the party to have fully-trained party agents in all polling stations in those municipalities. The party acknowledged that this training increased significantly the party's ability to monitor the elections at the polling station level, and contributed decisively to improve the quality of the party agents' performance as compared to previous elections.

Political Dialogue supported

EISA supported an extraordinary meeting of the 60-member RENAMO National Council in the central province of Sofala, in September 2013, where the political crisis in Mozambique was discussed. This activity was linked to efforts by civil society to find a negotiated solution to the political and military crisis between the Government and RENAMO. EISA further played a role in supporting shuttle-diplomacy efforts in July and August 2013. Civil society representatives shuttled between Maputo and the RENAMO headquarters in Sofala province to discuss proposals for a resolution of the crisis. The outcome of this effort was an agreement by RENAMO to streamline the number and scope of its demands. Unfortunately, these diplomatic efforts were derailed by armed action from both sides.

2012

FRELOMO, RENAMO and MDM, received technical assistance from EISA with the aim of strengthening the parties' internal capacity and democracy.

In support to FRELIMO, EISA funded:

Preparations for the party's 10th Congress, scheduled for September 2012. Between April and June EISA supported provincial party meetings in five of the country's eleven provinces, with a total of 1,775 participants, to elect the provincial delegates to the party Congress. In August, EISA supported preparatory meetings for the Congress involving all party provincial Secretaries for organizations and Training.

Also in August, EISA supported the training of 15 party officials in filing and digital archiving methods. The party archives were also provided with some modest IT and filing equipment and material

In the post-Congress phase, EISA supported a major national training event, involving 250 national and provincial Secretaries, as well as the leadership of the party's women's, youth and veterans leagues, in December 2012, where the Congress's decisions were disseminated and analysed.

In support to RENAMO, EISA funded:

The training of 500 party activists at district level in February 2012, as part of a process of revitalization of the party's district structures.

A meeting of 78 senior RENAMO officials in August 2012 to discuss the party's participation in the 2013 municipal elections, as well as to analyse the mid-year reports from the party's provincial structures.

In support to MDM, EISA funded:

A party leadership meeting to approve the documents and policies to be submitted to the party Congress, scheduled for 5-8 December.

The party's first Congress, since the party's creation in 2009. The Congress was attended by more than 700 delegates from all the country's provinces, the party's leadership structures were elected and party strategies were approved for the upcoming 2013 municipal and 2014 national elections.

The internal capacity of these three political parties has been strengthened through the training of 765 party officials and activists. Their internal democracy was strengthened through extensive support for the preparation and election of delegates and the holding of party Congresses, involving more than 2,500 party militants.

2011

During 2011, EISA provided support to the three Mozambican political parties with seats in parliament, namely FRELIMO, RENAMO and MDM. EISA's support, which is provided primarily through training and technical assistance, aimed at strengthening the parties' internal capacities and their internal democracy. In its political party support programme, EISA motivates the political parties to promote greater gender equality in their capacity-building activities. Around 40% of participants in training supported by EISA are women. Additionally, the political party benchmarks developed by EISA in 2010 with input from dozens of political parties throughout Africa, were translated into Portuguese and are ready to be disseminated in Mozambique.

EISA funded the training of around 600 party officials and activists of FRELIMO on matters such as internal party rules and regulations, party programme and policies, electoral processes and information and communications technologies. EISA also supported the training of trainers for party election monitors for the three November 2011 municipal by-elections. In addition, EISA also supported the conclusion of the upgrade and update of the party membership database.

In its support to RENAMO, EISA funded the revitalisation of the party's district and province-level structures through leadership and policy workshops. Topics addressed in those workshops ranged from the party programme and policies, recruitment and registration strategies, the roles of the Women's and Youth leagues and information on the upcoming electoral processes. More than 440 RENAMO officials and activists were involved in these workshops that took place in every province of the country.

EISA funded MDM's capacity to expand at the local level with the training of 200 party district-level activists.

2010: Political Party Support

Memorandum of Understanding

After initial contacts to gauge party interest in a partnership with EISA for institutional capacity building assistance, all
three parties responded positively. EISA signed Memoranda of Understanding with all three parties and developed initial work plans with each one. This was a very lengthy process given the bureaucratic nature of the internal decision-making process within the parties. Towards the end of 2010, the first party support activities started being implemented, namely two exchange trips for MDM (one of them with financial support from the French and Irish Embassies), and a training event and an upgrade of the membership database for FRELIMO.

EISA Mozambique also facilitated a workshop for Mozambican political parties on the benchmarks process ahead and in
preparation of the EISA 2010 Symposium.

On 14 September 2010 EISA Mozambique signed the first Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a 3 year capacity building partnership with the Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM), one of the three parties with representatives in the Mozambican Parliament. This agreement falls under the activities of the Political Party Strengthening Programme EISA is implementing in four African countries. Under this Programme, EISA will provide assistance to all parliamentary parties in Mozambique in the areas of:

strategic planning

leadership development

training of cadres

policy analysis and development

constituent relations and

balance and equity in gender representation.

The MoU was signed by Ismael Mussa, Secretary General of MDM, and Miguel de Brito, EISA Country Director for Mozambique.

Similar MoUs will be signed shortly with the FRELIMO and RENAMO parties.

Research study on party and electoral campaign finance

The EISA office, in collaboration with the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIM D), undertook a research study on party and electoral campaign financing in Mozambique. The study report was subsequently presented at a well-attended workshop, in which all major stakeholders took part. The study, which will be published by NIM D, includes recommendations for improving mechanisms of party and campaign finance in Mozambique.